 A U.S. Army quartermaster plant in southern Germany renovating 55-gallon oil drums. The old oil drums can be rusted, badly dented in, maybe even have some leaks in them, but it's a lot cheaper repairing them than buying new ones. Renovating one of these old 55-gallon drums cost the American taxpayer $1.41. A new one would have set him back $7.11. Five-gallon cans are also collected and renovated at substantial savings. The insides have to be painted too, and the special paint used in the renovating has proved more satisfactory and longer lasting than the original. A butcher, a baker, and now the Army quartermaster is an upholsterer and cabinetmaker. Living quarters and offices require millions of pieces of furniture, which in turn necessitate constant repairs, remodeling and renovation. As a part of its big clothing business, the quartermaster corps continually surveys stocks on hand. This is part of some stock that has been in storage since the end of World War II. Materials are checked for their condition. Repairs are made when necessary. And finally, the bundles are repacked according to size and like of item. Tents are another item to be bought, distributed, stored, issued, and repaired. Mess kits, one more of the QM's 80,000 items. In a U.S. Army quartermaster metal replating shop in Munich, more dollars are saved by re-silvering and refinishing Army tableware and Army pots and pans. The Army Cost-Consciousness program even extends to salvaging breadcrumbs at quartermaster bakeries. The crumbs are used for stuffings. Old eggshells from mess hall garbage cans. Even these are saved. They bring high prices from farmers who feed them back to the chickens. Sometimes quartermaster supplies come in via the sky route. Quartermaster aerial supply, organized for close support of combat, was cited during the Holland flood disaster for its outstanding contribution to the U.S. military relief efforts. Near Munich, Germany, in the Bavarian Alps, the Army Quartermaster Corps operates an overseas technical training school. Here, annually, it graduates more than 5,000 students from U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Europe. The students are taught quartermaster doctrine with special reference to the problems and conditions peculiar to Western Europe. The quartermaster's electronic brains that are far less open to making errors than the brains of the scientists who invented them. These automatic tabulating and accounting machines constitute the heart of quartermaster administrative control. Men must learn how these gadgets operate and they must learn how to operate them. Touch typing instruction, Army style. As a business element of the Army, the quartermaster corps not only trains stenographers for its own use, but for other arms and services as well. When a typewriter breaks down, there will be a QM repairman who will know how to fix it, learning to whip up a good dinner. Looks like somebody's going to be a mighty handy fellow for a girl to have around the house someday. Most Army cooking and food preparation is done indoors with normal kitchen facilities. Instruction in how to plan meals efficiently and how to prepare them appetizingly are both part of the food service program. Wherever a six by six truck can get through, it can carry a modern kitchen with it. Using models built to scale, students learn how it's done. The best quality meat can be no better than the way it's been cut. Students are instructed in how to be expert butchers and how to utilize all cuts to their maximum advantage. Not only must every man in the quartermaster corps be technically trained for the performance of his special duties, but he must also be tactically trained for combat. Modern warfare is likely to be characterized by fluid and fast changing front lines. In times of quick strategic withdrawals, service troops like those of the quartermaster corps may merge with front line combat elements. And in times of quick advances, the same quartermaster troops may be required to defend their supply installations against powerful guerrilla infiltration. A continuous physical and tactical training program is a part of every quartermaster soldier's daily military life. Quartermaster troops in Western Europe are competent technical specialists. And they are first rate soldiers. You have just seen the United States Army quartermaster corps going about its job for the United States Army in Europe. Now this is Sergeant Stuart Queen inviting you to be with us next week when we will present another look at the United States Army in action on The Big Picture. The Big Picture is a weekly television report to the nation on the activities of the army at home and overseas produced by the Signal Corps Pictorial Center presented by the U.S. Army in cooperation with this station. You can be an important part of The Big Picture. You can proudly serve with the best equipped, the best trained, the best fighting team in the world today, the United States Army.